I'm thinking of switching from and to Intel

[FlazTv]

What cpu should I get that's affordable and plays games with great fps. I'm switching from a fx 8120 and it's a big disappointment when I play games. The frame drops are constant. I have a r9 270x and I was wondering what's the best cpu that's under 200 and a good motherboard.

 

[davnel]

My advice: quit trying to go cheap. You'll never like the result. Save your pennies ($500 or so) and get an i7-4790K and a good z97 mobo. You'll love the result and it OCs like mad. Asus and Gigabyte both have good boards. Most such boards include support for m.2 or mSATA SSD drives as boot disks. Highly recommended.

 

[thormejh]

if its possible go to microcenter and get the motherboard cpu deal which gives you 40 off the board price. i do that every time i build another desktop. the i5 4590 is 160, and there is an asrock and an asus board for 80(which would come out to being 40) which would bring it to 200 plus tax. thats probably the best thing you could get. IF you can get to a microcenter

 

[RobCrezz]

If the OP has a OEM Windows license, then it is "likely" that he would need a new Windows license if/when he installs a different motherboard, since OEM license keys are tied to the mobo.

"You can just move hard drive to new motherboard and re enter the key to activate the OS"

Are you meaning re use the drive, after formatting it, and installing Windows?
Because just booting the pc with a completely different mobo/cpu with the old install of Windows leads to much badness.

It is possible to get Windows to allow his current license to be declared a valid copy, even after a hardware change of this nature, sometimes needing a call to Microsoft, and a little begging. Counting on that happening as a garanteed thing is not such a good idea.

+1

MS have always done this when ive called them, changing motherboards or whatever. Its not an issue.

 

[Guest]

What cpu should I get that's affordable and plays games with great fps. I'm switching from a fx 8120 and it's a big disappointment when I play games. The frame drops are constant. I have a r9 270x and I was wondering what's the best cpu that's under 200 and a good motherboard.

Go here to compare the Core i5 4690K to your AMD FX 8120:

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-4690K-vs-AMD-FX-8120

The Core i5 4690K is a great overclocking processor (the K indicates that it is made to overclock) and currently sells at Newegg for about $240. If I were to make the switch I would go Core i7 4970K, but if gaming is all you really do, aside for email, surfing, etc., and your funds are limited, then the Core i5 4690K is your best Intel choice, imo.

The difference between the two is that, aside from clock speed, the i5 has 4 cores only, while the i7 has 4 cores + hyper-threading, giving it 8 virtual cores. The i5 is very close to the i7 in gaming, with the difference being only a couple fps. However, if one wants to do video editing and a lot of multi-tasking (having tons of stuff open at the same time running in the background) then the i7 is the better cpu for those tasks.

For motherboard, choose a Z97 if you want a current motherboard and want to overclock the cpu (extremely easy to do on these motherboards). If money matters more to you but you still want to overclock, then Z87 motherboards are still available for sale.

If you have no intention of overclocking the cpu and don't think you will in the future, then an H97, H87 or even B85 should cost you less. Too, you could then consider the cheaper Core i5 4590 @ 3.3GHz (Newegg - $200) or the Core i5 4460 @ 3.2GHz ($190) versions, as well.

Btw, the Core i5 and Core i7 cpus mentioned here are for socket LA 1150 motherboards.

 

[Arronleeds]

i would recommend the z87-g55 if youre from the uk, its dirt cheap for what you get, its sli and crossfire compatible and it only costs around 56-60 pounds.

thats if you get an 1150 socket cpu.

 

[gravesmeister]

I have an FX-8350 with an R9-290X and I game like a bowss